Re-emerging

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (NIV)

It’s a hard time to be a Presbyterian right now, because our mainline denominations are failing. It’s as if we've reached the end of the line and that after 400 years of Reformed Faith, people no longer want to hear the doctrines of predestination, total depravity, or the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Instead, people want to make up their own brand of faith, something that will suit their life-style choices, which will not interfere with their decisions or make any judgments about the way they live their lives. What people want out of religion is something that will guarantee immortality at the end of their earthly lives, without any catches, conditions, or commandments to disbar them. It’s a bit like being in someone’s garden and wanting to steal apples from their tree without there being any consequences. It’s the same old sin of Adam and Eve – wanting to be immortal like God and trying to steal it from Him.

I'm not perfect, even although I'm a pastor. I've sinned many times against God and let Christ down time and time again. Each day I always say or do something that I'll regret later on, or I forget to do something and break a promise. Time just seems to consume me and I'm left wondering if I'm making any difference in the world that I know.

My role is to counter the culture that is choking the Christian faith. My call as a pastor is to help the people I know get past the sickness that is killing our society. My place is to be a prophet who preaches against the ways of the world that are leading people astray from Christ. At times, I feel like I'm chosen to be the Shepherd’s collie dog, snapping at the feet of the sheep in order to keep them in the fold and out of danger.

And then I read Paul’s letter to Timothy and I realize that the church has seen times like these before. When Timothy became a bishop to his people, he had to deal with the world; he had to preach against secularism; he had to keep people on the right track in order to get them home to Jesus. The people in Timothy’s time were itching to hear what they wanted to hear…and people are still the same today. Things may look different, but people are still the same – they want short cuts to salvation; they want the express lane to immortality; they want to cut in ahead of everybody else to get Christ’s blessings.

It’s hard being a Presbyterian these days, but it’s not harder than what Timothy’s people had to endure. It’s not harder than what pastors in China are suffering; it’s not harder than what Christian families in Nigeria are enduring; it’s not harder than what millions of Christians around the world have to overcome for the faith each day. And because of that, I've got to start drawing a line in the sand and say this day, we retreat no further. We will not quietly acquiesce to the world’s demands. We will not fade away into faithlessness. We will not continue to compromise our Reformed beliefs, our Calvinistic codes, our Presbyterian traditions.

It’s time to re-emerge. It’s time to revive. It’s time to reform. The itching has gone on long enough. It’s time to stop scratching and start fighting the good fight.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, our Presbyterian church is in a mess and people like me have caused it to be so. Instead of waiting and watching for Your return, I've been wallowing in sin and at ease in Zion. Forgive me, Lord, for all of those wasted years and sinful moments. Restore me, Lord, to the love and zeal that I once had for You alone. Help me, Lord, to climb out of this religious rut and back on to the highway to Heaven. In Your Holy Name, I pray. Amen.

Reformation

2 Timothy 1:10 “but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (NIV)

Yesterday, I commented on the fact that our Presbyterian faith is plummeting into Deism and Universalism. But what do these terms mean? To me, they encompass the current theological trend that seems to set aside what Christ has done for us, in order to believe in an all-powerful and all gracious God who forgives everyone and who permits any religion on earth to become a legitimate path to immortality and everlasting love. In other words, who Christ is doesn’t really matter and what He did is limited to the Christian sphere.

These kinds of beliefs accommodate all sorts of religions and you end up with salvation soup. People mix together what they want to believe and shape God into the philosophical, theological idol that they want Him to represent. Absolute truths from the past become relative and subordinate. Current trends and cultural pressure becomes supreme.

The Bible informs us of who Christ is and what His work has accomplished. For centuries, Christians have believed that the scriptures contain the truth about God’s plan of salvation. Ever since the end of World War 2, this has been popularly challenged by a society that no longer wants to live by a Biblical code or a Christian ethic.

The trouble is this: instead of maintaining the traditional standards of faith, we have been free-falling as Christians in a frenzy of trying to keep up with the culture. We have allowed ourselves to become overly-anxious about relevance, as opposed to reverence for God. We have walked down a blind-alley that leads to insignificance, instead of holding on to the incarnation of Christ in our world. We have become lazy Christians, who no longer influence society because we are just the same as society.

It’s time to stop this warping of our faith by trying to weave ourselves into the culture of our times. Christians are meant to be different. Christ’s followers have always been persecuted, pinioned, and pelted for their faith. If we become the same as everyone else, and if everyone else is bound for glory, then Christ’s ways, words, works, and worth are completely bogus, unnecessary, and irrelevant.

I cannot, I will not, I dare not subscribe to the irrelevance of Christ and the diminishing of His ministry. He has saved me from my sins and promised me eternal life. I will not turn my back on what He represents. Here I must stand; I can go no further with the cultural chaos that is being bred in the Church today.

I am a sinner in need of a Savior –Christ Jesus, the Everlasting Lord.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, it’s time to begin a new Reformation of faith by returning once again to You. For too long we have fed our own foolishness by believing that everyone is saved and anything goes. Forgive our cultural stupidity and cleanse our hearts of all those things that kill our faith. Grant us the courage to admit that we are all sinners, and at the same time, to declare that we are Your servants, called to be the salt of the world, chosen to be different. In Your Holy Name, we reverently pray. Amen.